Tanzania, which has seen an increasing number of foreign companies flock to the country to carry out the exploration of lithium, joins fellow African countries Zimbabwe, Namibia and Ghana in demanding domestic refining.

The Africa Report quoted Mark van den Arend, chairman of StraMin, which acts as an intermediary buyer of minerals from small and medium-sized (SME) miners in the East African country, as saying that requiring lithium value addition is “the right strategy” for Tanzania, adding it would be no surprise if the requirement is extended to include other minerals.

Van den Arend, a former Deutsche Bank executive now based in Frankfurt, set up StraMin this year. It focuses on buying copper, beryllium, nickel, graphite, lithium, cobalt, coltan and tin at cost price from miners, who then share in the resale profits. StraMin has exclusive offtake rights with miners holding 70 primary licences in Tanzania.

Aggregation of SME output makes the operations more attractive to international buyers and investors, and “empowers” small-scale miners, Van den Arend told The Africa Report, adding, “people underestimate the relevance of the SME mine sector.”

Lithium is a key element in the manufacture of modern batteries used in emerging technologies – including lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles – and is considered a critical mineral in clean energy transition.

US firm Titan Lithium Inc and Australian multinationals Liontown Resources and Cassius Mining Ltd are some of the foreign companies that made significant lithium discoveries in the Tanzania.